John was born John Cahalane in Laharan, a townland in Killorglin Parish, County Kerry, Ireland, February 11, 1841. He was baptized there February 14, 1841. His parents were James J. Cahalane and Ellen Finn.
On September 9, 1845, when John was 4 years old – and twenty days before his younger brother Michael was born – the Irish press first reported a famine. In July and August, 1846, when John was five years old, there was a universal potato crop failure. This led to both starvation (among the very poor) and emigration (for those who could scrape enough together to get out), which increased starting that summer. Local reports from the Killorglin area noted that persons who had starved to death were found by the side of the road, with green stains on their teeth from eating grass. The English overlords decided the best way to handle the situation was to put the Irish to work. By December, 1846, about 500,000 persons were employed in a relief program, building roads ("Famine roads that go nowhere"), docks, and other public works projects not unlike the WPA in the 1930s here in the United States. These programs proved little comfort to those who were so devastated by the famine that they were too weak to work, and by the end of the year it was obvious that the problem was far greater than those across the channel had anticipated. Epidemics of "famine fever" (typhus) combined with dysentery (from eating turnips), dropsy, and hunger edema were rampant. 1847, when John was six years old, was the worst time of the Famine. That year, over 100,000 Irish sailed to the US, often via Canada. In just 10 years, County Kerry lost 19% of its population to starvation and emigration.
Even though his childhood was spent during the years of the Potato Famine, his 1938 interview did not seem to bring back bad memories of the times. Rather, he reminisced about growing up on an estate. Since the Irish Catholics were forbidden to own land, John’s father’s home and farm were undoubtedly leased from English overlords. Nevertheless, his father James apparently did well as a farmer, since there was little evidence of undue hardship in the family (all the children survived and no one emigrated until the 1860s). John came to the US in 1871 and being athletic (he was a star at the Irish game of hurling) worked for the Rock Island Line railroad for 40 years, repairing crossties and track.
Hanora Breen was one of the young women “in the neighborhood,” so to speak, living a few miles away in a different town land, and John and Hanora were close friends as children. Although they liked each other and may have been romantically involved to some extent, John was about 4 years older, and Hanora eventually married a man reported to be John’s first cousin, Patrick O’Brien, after she came over to the United States in 1872. On August 3, 1876, Hanora gave birth to a baby girl, Margaret G. (Maggie) O’Brien. Unfortunately, about a year later, Patrick was killed in a train mishap, leaving Hanora as a widow with an infant child.
According to his granddaughter Rosemary Fisher, "When Grandpa found out that Nora was now a widow, he determined to find her and marry her. He came to Illinois with a marriage license in his pocket according to Mamie [John & Hanora's daughter Mary] and she said when he told this to them years later the boys said, 'Pa, you sure had nerve.'” John was probably living near his brother Michael in Indiana when he heard the news. He moved to LaSalle County, Allen Township, shortly thereafter to be near Hanora, who at the time of their marriage was living in Ransom, Illinois. They married June 11, 1878, in St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Seneca, a few miles north of Ransom, and settled in Seneca.
As "Cahalane" (or the English spelling, "Cahillane") was hard to pronounce for Americans, both John and his brother Michael came to pronounce their name "Callahan." His brother Michael retained the spelling "Cahalane," while John changed the family name to "Callahan" about 1883.
John lived to be 97 years old. Doctors said he had no organic disease, and just died of "old age."
On September 9, 1845, when John was 4 years old – and twenty days before his younger brother Michael was born – the Irish press first reported a famine. In July and August, 1846, when John was five years old, there was a universal potato crop failure. This led to both starvation (among the very poor) and emigration (for those who could scrape enough together to get out), which increased starting that summer. Local reports from the Killorglin area noted that persons who had starved to death were found by the side of the road, with green stains on their teeth from eating grass. The English overlords decided the best way to handle the situation was to put the Irish to work. By December, 1846, about 500,000 persons were employed in a relief program, building roads ("Famine roads that go nowhere"), docks, and other public works projects not unlike the WPA in the 1930s here in the United States. These programs proved little comfort to those who were so devastated by the famine that they were too weak to work, and by the end of the year it was obvious that the problem was far greater than those across the channel had anticipated. Epidemics of "famine fever" (typhus) combined with dysentery (from eating turnips), dropsy, and hunger edema were rampant. 1847, when John was six years old, was the worst time of the Famine. That year, over 100,000 Irish sailed to the US, often via Canada. In just 10 years, County Kerry lost 19% of its population to starvation and emigration.
Even though his childhood was spent during the years of the Potato Famine, his 1938 interview did not seem to bring back bad memories of the times. Rather, he reminisced about growing up on an estate. Since the Irish Catholics were forbidden to own land, John’s father’s home and farm were undoubtedly leased from English overlords. Nevertheless, his father James apparently did well as a farmer, since there was little evidence of undue hardship in the family (all the children survived and no one emigrated until the 1860s). John came to the US in 1871 and being athletic (he was a star at the Irish game of hurling) worked for the Rock Island Line railroad for 40 years, repairing crossties and track.
Hanora Breen was one of the young women “in the neighborhood,” so to speak, living a few miles away in a different town land, and John and Hanora were close friends as children. Although they liked each other and may have been romantically involved to some extent, John was about 4 years older, and Hanora eventually married a man reported to be John’s first cousin, Patrick O’Brien, after she came over to the United States in 1872. On August 3, 1876, Hanora gave birth to a baby girl, Margaret G. (Maggie) O’Brien. Unfortunately, about a year later, Patrick was killed in a train mishap, leaving Hanora as a widow with an infant child.
According to his granddaughter Rosemary Fisher, "When Grandpa found out that Nora was now a widow, he determined to find her and marry her. He came to Illinois with a marriage license in his pocket according to Mamie [John & Hanora's daughter Mary] and she said when he told this to them years later the boys said, 'Pa, you sure had nerve.'” John was probably living near his brother Michael in Indiana when he heard the news. He moved to LaSalle County, Allen Township, shortly thereafter to be near Hanora, who at the time of their marriage was living in Ransom, Illinois. They married June 11, 1878, in St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Seneca, a few miles north of Ransom, and settled in Seneca.
As "Cahalane" (or the English spelling, "Cahillane") was hard to pronounce for Americans, both John and his brother Michael came to pronounce their name "Callahan." His brother Michael retained the spelling "Cahalane," while John changed the family name to "Callahan" about 1883.
John lived to be 97 years old. Doctors said he had no organic disease, and just died of "old age."
John was born John Cahalane in Laharan, a townland in Killorglin Parish, County Kerry, Ireland, February 11, 1841. He was baptized there February 14, 1841. His parents were James J. Cahalane and Ellen Finn.
On September 9, 1845, when John was 4 years old – and twenty days before his younger brother Michael was born – the Irish press first reported a famine. In July and August, 1846, when John was five years old, there was a universal potato crop failure. This led to both starvation (among the very poor) and emigration (for those who could scrape enough together to get out), which increased starting that summer. Local reports from the Killorglin area noted that persons who had starved to death were found by the side of the road, with green stains on their teeth from eating grass. The English overlords decided the best way to handle the situation was to put the Irish to work. By December, 1846, about 500,000 persons were employed in a relief program, building roads ("Famine roads that go nowhere"), docks, and other public works projects not unlike the WPA in the 1930s here in the United States. These programs proved little comfort to those who were so devastated by the famine that they were too weak to work, and by the end of the year it was obvious that the problem was far greater than those across the channel had anticipated. Epidemics of "famine fever" (typhus) combined with dysentery (from eating turnips), dropsy, and hunger edema were rampant. 1847, when John was six years old, was the worst time of the Famine. That year, over 100,000 Irish sailed to the US, often via Canada. In just 10 years, County Kerry lost 19% of its population to starvation and emigration.
Even though his childhood was spent during the years of the Potato Famine, his 1938 interview did not seem to bring back bad memories of the times. Rather, he reminisced about growing up on an estate. Since the Irish Catholics were forbidden to own land, John’s father’s home and farm were undoubtedly leased from English overlords. Nevertheless, his father James apparently did well as a farmer, since there was little evidence of undue hardship in the family (all the children survived and no one emigrated until the 1860s). John came to the US in 1871 and being athletic (he was a star at the Irish game of hurling) worked for the Rock Island Line railroad for 40 years, repairing crossties and track.
Hanora Breen was one of the young women “in the neighborhood,” so to speak, living a few miles away in a different town land, and John and Hanora were close friends as children. Although they liked each other and may have been romantically involved to some extent, John was about 4 years older, and Hanora eventually married a man reported to be John’s first cousin, Patrick O’Brien, after she came over to the United States in 1872. On August 3, 1876, Hanora gave birth to a baby girl, Margaret G. (Maggie) O’Brien. Unfortunately, about a year later, Patrick was killed in a train mishap, leaving Hanora as a widow with an infant child.
According to his granddaughter Rosemary Fisher, "When Grandpa found out that Nora was now a widow, he determined to find her and marry her. He came to Illinois with a marriage license in his pocket according to Mamie [John & Hanora's daughter Mary] and she said when he told this to them years later the boys said, 'Pa, you sure had nerve.'” John was probably living near his brother Michael in Indiana when he heard the news. He moved to LaSalle County, Allen Township, shortly thereafter to be near Hanora, who at the time of their marriage was living in Ransom, Illinois. They married June 11, 1878, in St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Seneca, a few miles north of Ransom, and settled in Seneca.
As "Cahalane" (or the English spelling, "Cahillane") was hard to pronounce for Americans, both John and his brother Michael came to pronounce their name "Callahan." His brother Michael retained the spelling "Cahalane," while John changed the family name to "Callahan" about 1883.
John lived to be 97 years old. Doctors said he had no organic disease, and just died of "old age."
On September 9, 1845, when John was 4 years old – and twenty days before his younger brother Michael was born – the Irish press first reported a famine. In July and August, 1846, when John was five years old, there was a universal potato crop failure. This led to both starvation (among the very poor) and emigration (for those who could scrape enough together to get out), which increased starting that summer. Local reports from the Killorglin area noted that persons who had starved to death were found by the side of the road, with green stains on their teeth from eating grass. The English overlords decided the best way to handle the situation was to put the Irish to work. By December, 1846, about 500,000 persons were employed in a relief program, building roads ("Famine roads that go nowhere"), docks, and other public works projects not unlike the WPA in the 1930s here in the United States. These programs proved little comfort to those who were so devastated by the famine that they were too weak to work, and by the end of the year it was obvious that the problem was far greater than those across the channel had anticipated. Epidemics of "famine fever" (typhus) combined with dysentery (from eating turnips), dropsy, and hunger edema were rampant. 1847, when John was six years old, was the worst time of the Famine. That year, over 100,000 Irish sailed to the US, often via Canada. In just 10 years, County Kerry lost 19% of its population to starvation and emigration.
Even though his childhood was spent during the years of the Potato Famine, his 1938 interview did not seem to bring back bad memories of the times. Rather, he reminisced about growing up on an estate. Since the Irish Catholics were forbidden to own land, John’s father’s home and farm were undoubtedly leased from English overlords. Nevertheless, his father James apparently did well as a farmer, since there was little evidence of undue hardship in the family (all the children survived and no one emigrated until the 1860s). John came to the US in 1871 and being athletic (he was a star at the Irish game of hurling) worked for the Rock Island Line railroad for 40 years, repairing crossties and track.
Hanora Breen was one of the young women “in the neighborhood,” so to speak, living a few miles away in a different town land, and John and Hanora were close friends as children. Although they liked each other and may have been romantically involved to some extent, John was about 4 years older, and Hanora eventually married a man reported to be John’s first cousin, Patrick O’Brien, after she came over to the United States in 1872. On August 3, 1876, Hanora gave birth to a baby girl, Margaret G. (Maggie) O’Brien. Unfortunately, about a year later, Patrick was killed in a train mishap, leaving Hanora as a widow with an infant child.
According to his granddaughter Rosemary Fisher, "When Grandpa found out that Nora was now a widow, he determined to find her and marry her. He came to Illinois with a marriage license in his pocket according to Mamie [John & Hanora's daughter Mary] and she said when he told this to them years later the boys said, 'Pa, you sure had nerve.'” John was probably living near his brother Michael in Indiana when he heard the news. He moved to LaSalle County, Allen Township, shortly thereafter to be near Hanora, who at the time of their marriage was living in Ransom, Illinois. They married June 11, 1878, in St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Seneca, a few miles north of Ransom, and settled in Seneca.
As "Cahalane" (or the English spelling, "Cahillane") was hard to pronounce for Americans, both John and his brother Michael came to pronounce their name "Callahan." His brother Michael retained the spelling "Cahalane," while John changed the family name to "Callahan" about 1883.
John lived to be 97 years old. Doctors said he had no organic disease, and just died of "old age."
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
